1-21-14

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Flagstaff Almanac:

Week: 04 / Day: 021   

Today: L 17°…H 54°… Ave. humidity: 45%

Wind: ave:   10mph; Gusts:  11mph  

Average Low: 17° Record Low:  -24° (1937)

Average High: 43° Record High:  60° (1944)

Quote of the Day

 

Today’s Historical Highlights

1189 - Philip II, Henry II & Richard Lion hearted initiate 3rd Crusade

1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born 

1677 - 1st medical publication in America (pamphlet on smallpox), Boston

1789 - 1st American novel, WH Brown's "Power of Sympathy," is published

1799 - Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced

1813 - Pineapple introduced to Hawaii 

1818 - Keats writes his poem "On a Lock of Milton's Hair"

1861 - Jefferson Davis of Mississippi & 4 other southern senators resign

1863 - City of Dublin leases part of Cattle Market for 100,000 years

1880 - 1st US sewage disposal system separate from storm drains, Memphis

1887 - Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) forms

1899 - Opel manufactured its first automobile

1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit

1922 - 1st slalom ski race run, Murren, Switzerland

1935 - Wilderness Society forms

1949 - 1st inaugural parade televised (Harry Truman)

1977 - Pres Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders

1990 - John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open

2008 - The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies.

♫  Today’s Birthdays: ♫   

How many can you identify? Answers in Today’s Birthdays

 

My Free Rambling Thoughts   

I had a worrisome day on the MLK holiday. A good friend from the Rez has been in the hospital in Phx for about a week. Last night he had an episode of cardiac arrest. Got text messages from his son and another good friend. He is in his early 70’s and lost his wife about 3 years ago. Not sure where this is all going right now. He was married to a good friend’s sister and always treated me like family, always inviting me to family gatherings and other family events. He has been a BIA superintendent (non-education) and a councilman and interim Vice Chairman of the Navajo Tribe. It is sad to hear that he is having so many medical problems. I know that part of his problems is loneliness as I have had several conversations with him since his wife’s passing. I recall my mom telling me that my grandfather was lonely for years after my grandmother passed, and then she told me that she never really understood it until my dad passed away. She said that losing a spouse is so different than losing any other family member. While you still have lots of family around to spend time with, you still miss the spouse who was with you for all those years.

 

I decided it was time to shampoo my carpet today. I did the living room and the hallway. It’s been a couple of years and it certainly was needed. I am certainly not the best housekeeper but I do vacuum on a fairly regular basis. Even so, the carpet gets dirty. I have one of those home models but next time I get in this mood I’m renting one of those big machines. I know they do a better job, and as dirty as the water was when I did the living room, it needs a really good big machine steam cleaning.

 

Obama certainly laid it on the line in a New Yorker interview. He admitted that some ‘folks’ don’t like him because he is a black President. As I have watched his tenure as POTUS, I couldn’t agree more. So many of his distracters have been ‘for’ something until he gets behind it, then they suddenly are ‘agin’ it. Saddened, but inspired, that he recognizes that color still matters in America and is not afraid to say so.

 

So looking forward to the Sochi Olympics next month. Terrorists are threatening a ‘present’ for the games. It is one thing to make the Olympic village safe, but quite another to make the many venues and the streets and roads to these venues safe. I can’t imagine what a threat like that would have done to the Olympics I attended in LA. Even back then, there were camo-ed soldiers with loaded weapons at every venue we went to…and so many of them, it was a little frightening. I was at an early boxing contest. When Holyfield was boxing, I wanted a picture, and moved from my seat to the aisle and worked my way down. I was stopped by a uniformed female who told me to move back…I was about 50’ from the ring. I moved back, and in a couple of minutes moved up again, then again…each time being sent back. Finally she came up to me and said, you must really want a picture…come with me. She took me up to about 10’ from the ring, I got my pictures, and she said not to try again. I didn’t.

Game  Center (answers at the end of post)

Brain Teasers

The sphinx wanted to know which one of the three gods stole the golden apple. Was it Horus, Anubis or Osiris?

''I didn't,'' said Horus.

''Osiris did,'' said Anubis.

''Anubis is lying,'' said Osiris

The sphinx knew that one god was telling the truth and the other two were lying.

Who stole the golden apple?

Lifestyle  Substance:     

Found on You Tube with some relevance to today

• Geena Davis winning Best Supporting Actress

• Mac Davis - I Believe In Music

• Opening Sequence of Stoney Burke

• Plácido Domingo & Luciano Pavarotti - O Holy Night

• Richie Havens, Freedom, (Woodstock)

• Steve Reeves the best natural bodybuilder ever workout

Actual Complaints… These are actual complaints received from dissatisfied customers by Thomas Cook Vacations (based on a Thomas Cook/ABTA survey):

"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair."

Suggested New State Mottos:

• Illinois: Please Don't Pronounce the "S"

• Iowa: We Do Amazing Things With Corn

Remembering TV’s great shows:

"Seinfeld" The hilarious spirits of the masters of their domains echo in shows like "Veep" and co-creator Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but "Seinfeld" set the bar for lovable outrageousness with memorable shtick that shocked and awed. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Auction Prices

Around 3,700 unpublished images of Marilyn Monroe. Milton H. Greene was only 26-years-old when he photographed Marilyn Monroe. Just this year over 3,700 of his images went up for auction by his estate -- with copyright -- meaning the buyer could print images from the negatives and transparencies, sell them and license the material.

OK Then…

Harper’s Index 

• Bald eagle population of the continental United States in 1979: 9,815

• In 1982: 13,825

Unusual Fact of the Day

How big is Big Bird? 8 feet, 2 inches.

Joke-of-the-day

A couple is dressed and ready to go out for the evening. They phone for a cab, turn on a night light, cover their pet parakeet and put the cat out in the back yard.

The taxi arrives, and they open the front door to leave. Suddenly the cat they put out scoots back into the house. They don't want the cat shut in there because she always tries to eat the bird. The wife goes out to the taxi while the husband goes back in. The cat runs upstairs, with the man in hot pursuit.

The wife doesn't want the driver to know the house will be empty. She explains to the taxi driver that her husband will be out soon. "He's just going upstairs to say goodbye to my mother."

A few minutes later the husband gets into the cab.

"Sorry I took so long," he says, as they drive away. "Stupid hag was hiding under the bed. Had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! Then I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked. I hauled her fat butt downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!

The cab driver hit a parked car.  

Rules of Thumb:   

Easy shortcuts to make an ‘educated’ guess

PLANNING INTERVIEWS

Interview first for the jobs you care about least--the experience will improve your important interviews.    

Yeah, It Really Happened

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Three men who attempted to steal a Massachusetts delivery driver's car found their getaway impeded by the manual transmission, police said. Springfield police said the driver was stopped to drop off an order around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday when he was approached by three men, one of whom was armed with a knife, the Republican, Springfield, reported Thursday. Sgt. John Delaney said the robbers took the food intended for the delivery and the driver's car keys. "The trio jumped into his car and attempted to steal it, but not one of them knew how to drive a stick-shift car," he said. Delaney said the men argued for a short time before fleeing on foot with the food.  

Somewhat Useless Information   

• Benjamin Franklin once wrote an essay about on the possibility of waterskiing.

• What did Christopher Columbus look like? No one knows - his portrait was never painted.

• P.T. Barnum staged the first international beauty contest.

• Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein married their first cousins.

• Though deaf and blind, Helen Keller learned English, French, and German. 

• Sigmund Freud smoked 20 cigars a day.

Calendar Information        

Happening This Week:

16-26

Sundance Film Festival
17-23

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week
18-19

Bald Eagle Appreciation Days
18-26

International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week  
Week of Christian Unity
Clean Out Your Inbox Week
Healthy Weight Week
Hunt For Happiness Week
19-24

National Activity Professionals Week   
National Nurse Anesthetists Week
National Handwriting Analysis Week
20-24

No Name Calling Week  
Sugar Awareness Week

Today Is                                                                      

·        International Fetish Day

·        National Hugging Day

·        Rid The World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day

·        Squirrel Appreciation Day

Today’s Events through History  

1674: -Father Pierre Millet "foretells" the coming of today's lunar eclipse, using 

     an almanac. Challenging IROQUOIS shamen to predict the time or date of the 

     eclipse, which they don't, Millet will make religious inroads

1927 - 1st national opera broadcast from a US opera house (Faust, Chicago)

1942 - Bronx magistrate rules all pinball machines illegal

1986 - 100 participate in Nude Olympics race in 38°F (3°C), Indiana

1991 - CBS News correspondent Bob Simon captured by Iraqis in Persian Gulf

Today’s Birthdays                                                           

Jack Nicklaus, golfer (Player of Yr 1967,72,73,75,76) is 74

Placido Domingo, Madrid Spain, opera tenor is 73

Mac Davis, country music singer-songwriter, actor is 71

Jill Eikenberry, actress (Ann Kelsey-LA Law, Manhattan Project) is 67

Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft is 62

Robby Benson, actor (One on One, Running Brave, Chosen) is 58

Geena [Virginia] Davis, actress (Beetlejuice, Fly) is 58

Remembered for being born today

1743 - John Fitch, inventor (had a working steamboat years before Fulton)

1815 - Horace Wells, dentist (pioneered use of medical anesthesia)

1824 - Thomas Jackson ["Stonewall"], Lt Gen 2nd Corps (ANV, Confed)

1905 - Christian Dior, Normandy France, fashion designer (New Look)

1922 - Telly Savalas, actor (Acapulco, Kojak)

1924 - Benny Hill, Southampton England, comedian (Benny Hill Show)

1941 - Richie Havens, Bkln, folk singer (Here Comes the Sun), (d. 2013)

1938 - Wolfman Jack, [Bob Smith], Brooklyn New York, American DJ (Midnight Special)

1926 - Steve Reeves, Glasgow Montana, actor (Hercules, Hercules Unchained)

Today’s Historical Obits                                                           

Howard "Red" Grange, football's galloping ghost 1991 @87

Colonel Tom Parker, manager (Elvis Presley) 1997 @87

Peggy Lee, American singer 2002 @81

Jack Lord, American actor Alzheimer's 1998 @77

Cecil B[lount] de Mille, producer (10 Commandments) heart failure 1959 @77

John Couch Adams, English co-discoverer of Neptune 1892 @72

Elisha Gray, American inventor; of heart attack 1901 @65

Susan Strasberg, American actress breast cancer in 1999 @60

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Russian Revolutionary leader and Premier stroke 1924 @53

Ann Sheridan, actress (Pistols 'n' Petticoats) cancer 1967 @51

George Orwell, author (Animal Farm, 1984) TB 1950 @46

Louis XVI, French King  beheaded 1793 @38

Saint Agnes (martyred) 304 @13

Brain Teasers

Horus stole the golden apple. Horus and Anubis were lying. Osiris was telling the truth.

Disclaimer: All opinions are mine…feel free to agree or disagree.

All ‘data’ info is from the internet sites and is usually checked with at least one other source, but I have learned that every site has mistakes and sadly once out the information is out there, many sites simply copy it and is therefore difficult to verify. Also for events occurring before the Gregorian calendar was adopted [1582] the dates may not be totally accurate.

§    And That Is All for Now  §